Kinship is a newly opened restaurant in Washington, DC. The chef-owner is Eric Ziebold (formerly of French Laundry and CityZen) and his wife, Celia Laurent. We have been huge fans of Eric’s cooking since his CityZen days and have been looking forward to his opening up his own restaurant for months.
The menu is organized a little differently than most restaurant menus. There are four main categories: Craft, History, Ingredients, and Indulgence. Under these categories, the first two entries are generally appetizer-sized, the next two entries are entrée-sized, and the last entry is dessert. (I have heard complaints from some diners about this, but I’m not sure how you would read “Bahibe Chocolate Tart” and assume it’s anything but a dessert.) I also love menus that include desserts so that I can decide whether to save a lot of or a little room for the course. (Notice that I did not say save no room.) 🙂
There is a fifth category called “For the Table.” Hopefully, this category is self-explanatory, as it consists of dishes ample enough for the entire table to share.
Our group started off with the following appetizers (and there were thumbs up from all the diners):
Oeuf à la Brick au Thon (feuille de brick fried egg, tuna confit, and sweet pepper marmalade)
oeuf a la brick au thon
Aoyagi Clams (yuzu, shitake tempura, baby bok choy, and garlic fried rice)
aoyagi clams
Blue Fin Toro Sashimi (sweet, sour, salty,and spicy flavors); and
blue fin toro sashimi
Path Valley Farms Sunchokes (clementine segments, toasted pepitas, and cilantro chimichurri)
path valley farms sunchokes
Entrees included:
Seared Muscovy Duck (napa cabbage, peanuts, honeycrisp apples, and fermented black beans)
seared muscovy duck
Salt Crusted Dorade (with roasted cauliflower, raisins, honey-saffron sauce, and orzo) from the “For the Table” menu; and
salt crusted dorade
orzo
Elysian Fields Farm Lamb (sweet pepper stew and Anson Mills grits), also from the “For the Table” menu
elysian fields farm lamb
grits
Desserts (with no photos) were:
Sticky Toffee Pudding (with Meyer lemon marmalade, fig membrillo butterscotch, and Earl Grey ice cream); and
Valrhona Guanaja Custard Cake (with pecan nduja, espelette caramel, pralines ‘n’ cream ice cream). (This was wonderfully decadent, and I’m not even that fond of chocolate!)
The food was fabulous (as expected with Eric at the helm). Service was very good, but the timing of the kitchen is still a bit off. We had a lengthy wait between the time we placed our order and the time the appetizers came out. In addition, if you want the Kinship Roast Chicken, it’s an hour wait, so if you know you want it, then place the order when you sit down. There is also a wait for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Souffle so order it with the main meal if it’s your dessert of choice. That being said, we expect these kinks to be ironed out with time.
The space is very interesting—it’s spare and minimalist. There are a couple of alcoves with tables, and these are definitely the best seats for both sound and comfort.
And, finally, a disclosure: we are very minor investors in Kinship.
Kinship is located at 1015 7th St, NW, Washington, DC 20001 (www.kinshipdc.com).